It's been a wild ride for Jim Mergard, a respect name in the chipmaking and processor design industry. Mr. Mergard enjoyed a successful 16-year stint with Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD), before leaving the chipmaker in late 2011. According toThe Wall Street Journal, Mr. Mergard's specialty was low power systems-on-a-chip (SoCs). He reportedly was the "brains" behind development of AMD's hot-selling "accelerated processing units", guiding them through the prototype phase.

Speculation is running wild regarding whether Mr. Mergard's expertise will be used simply to produce better SoCs for i-devices, or for a more novel project, such as an in-house computer central processing unit.

For years Apple heavily used and contributed to the PowerPC architecture. But some suspect it may have second thoughts about switching to Intel Corp. (INTC) chips. After all, Apple prefers to keep as much of its ecosystem as it can in-house, leaving the rest to anonymous unnamed suppliers. Intel's desire for prominent branding represents somewhat of a values conflict for Apple.

Jim Mergard has joined up with Apple [Image Source: The Tech Journal].

But only time can tell what possibilities might be looming for the new recruit.

For now it's just one more example of Apple's longtrack record of aggressively poaching its market rival's best talent. That poaching has led to numerous complaints over the years, but under the new leadership of Tim Cook Apple shows no signs of stopping the aggressive tactic.

I haven't played WoW in over a year, and as I stated several times which you keep ignoring, I said the Core2 is but ONE of my machines.

And hey, that Core2 I buil, with LOTS of customizations SSD's and a sweet overclock tuned by yours truly, is still getting it done when I need it today. You apparently have a very narrow view of what being "tech oriented" is all about.

I was the first on my block to have a Tandy computer, take that mr 'tech savvy' :P. It was nothing but a glorified all-in-one keyboard you hooked up to a TV and I had to write custom programs to do ANYTHING on it. I mean seriously if that's the argument you want to make, I think a lot of posters here would laugh.

Are you just trying to come off like an asshole, or is that just how you roll all the time?

Well, yeah, having and fiddling with the latest toys (you're not the only one who overclocks, I got my i7 up to 4ghz easy) on the block does make me more tech oriented. When you mentioned your C2D you sure as heck made it sound like your main rig, anything else I should know about?

With you its either "Mac users are technically ignorant" or "Mac users are narcissistic showing off their cool stuff". Pick one dude, cry some more.

And no, I don't think I'm the a-hole in the discussion; you're the guy who thinks Bill Gates is an idiot and should hoard his fortune. Disgusting.

Right I see, so you're more tech oriented AND a better person to boot. Anything else I should know? /sarcasm

quote: And no, I don't think I'm the a-hole in the discussion; you're the guy who thinks Bill Gates is an idiot and should hoard his fortune. Disgusting.

That's bullcrap and you know it. You'll NEVER find me having called Gates an "idiot", ever. I challenge you to find that.

You know what, I don't really need this crap. You get in a hopeless debate with Retro, who has you by the balls, and you keep deflecting it with BS about "Reclaimer this, reclaimer that" as if that's going to pull you out of the hole you're in. Why even bring me up when I'm not even the one you're arguing with? I'll tell you why, it's because you've got nothing else but insults, personal attacks, and straw men. Whatever point you were actually trying to make was blown away long ago.

Last time you got this retarded over Apple you resorted to "trailer park" comments about me, lashed out over how "ignorant" everyone on DT is (despite your continued visitation) and stormed off in a huff for a few months. Looks like you're repeating that trend now, I just have one request: This time don't come back.

quote: I think it's a great thing what he's doing...lmao okay, I can't even pull that BS off with a straight face. No, it's a big waste of money imo, but whatever, it's his to waste.

You sure don't seem to think Gates is being smart about his fortune, wiping out polio and all that nonsense.

quote: You get in a hopeless debate with Retro, who has you by the balls

He said that Apple copied Samsung with photo-stitching apps, something that is ridiculous given that other such apps have been on iOS for years prior, and outside of smartphones for long before that. He had nothing by the balls, it was a stupid post and I called him on it.

As for using Apple "inventing" things as an excuse to make that post, that's also ridiculous. "Inventing" things is never the point with Apple. Their significance is in the execution, where their execution on existing technology creates new product categories where others follow. Base technology is one thing, but implementation is just as important. Its been going on for three decades, it isn't just luck.

quote: Why even bring me up when I'm not even the one you're arguing with?

Because you, along with Swash and Motoman, are among the most extreme examples of idiocy and bad posting here. I don't mind disagreeing with someone at all. I think retrospooty generally makes good posts, but sometimes his emotion pushes him into posts like the ones above. What does bother me is when the ways people use to debate are so broken and based on sensationalism. Fact checking goes out the window and rhetoric takes over.

I also don't recall ever leaving here for a few months. I checked over my post history to be sure and there are no significant gaps. It really is my problem given that the level of writing here is so bad and I really should know better than to participate. Unfortunately DT is on the sidebar of Anandtech, an actual good site that I've been going to for over a decade. Then this happens: http://xkcd.com/386/

OK' all bs aside. I said that Apple copied panoramic photos from samsung because the Galaxy S 3 just came out and it's the highest selling Android phone it's a direct competitor to the iPhone and now the iPhone came out with the same feature. Nowhere did I say samsung invented it I said apple copied it, that is the point, and that is the point that you refuse to address. Apple copied that, and plenty other tech as well, and copies all the time going back decades... I'm not sure why you're dancing around that subject, is it something you just can't admit too or won't admit too?

Nope, its just a point that I don't agree with. Panaoramic photo taking has existed for years, and it already existed for years on iOS. Apple doing their own implementation on panoramic photo taking doesn't happen overnight, especially given how long they take to make something. I do not think that Apple put panoramic photo taking into the iPhone 5 because of the Galaxy alone, sorry.

If you want to dodge and turn this into a semantic argument now then I'm not interested.

quote: You sure don't seem to think Gates is being smart about his fortune, wiping out polio and all that nonsense.

That's light years from saying "he's an idiot" is it not? Just admit you were using hyperbole and lets move on. This talking point didn't get traction the first time you tried it, and it's not working now either.

quote: Because you, along with Swash and Motoman, are among the most extreme examples of idiocy and bad posting here.

And you're not? Woooo, we got some serious confirmation bias here.

I love how you bring up Swash. Not because you're wrong about him, but it's just ironic that you use the same exact arguments he does, yet view yourself as being above him as well.

Bad posting? Now it's getting deep. I'm one of the best posters here, bar none :)

Anyway it's been REALLY fun, but there's more important things to discuss. However you did succeed in steering this discussion away from Apple and on to everything and everyone else. So congratulations on that I guess, mission accomplished.